HC Deb 15 November 1988 vol 140 cc621-2W
Sir Barney Hayhoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he is now able to publish the results of the first year of the ethnic monitoring survey of applicants and recruits to the armed forces; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Freeman

A copy of the provisional results of the first year of ethnic monitoring of formal applicants and recruits to the armed forces, together with a statistical commentary, have today been placed in the House of Commons Library. The main conclusions that can be drawn from the statistical analysis are:

(a) there is a substantial under-representation of the ethnic minorities amongst applicants to join the services. Overall ethnic minorities accounted for 1.6 per cent. of applicants whereas estimates indicate that they form some 5.7 per cent. of the total Great Britain population in the 15–24 age range. The difference can only partly be explained by regional effects;

(b) amongst applicants for entry as service men or women, blacks have a significantly higher application rate than Asians and those from other ethnic minority groups. For officer applicants there is little difference between the ethnic minority groups;

(c) the Army has a significantly higher proportion of ethnic minorities amongst applicants for service men and women entry than the other services. For officer applicants any differences between the services are not significant;

(d) the success rate of ethnic minority applicants is lower than for white applicants. Overall 28.2 per cent. of applicants were successful; the rate for whites was 28.4 per cent. whereas that for the ethnic minorities overall was 19.1 per cent. The difference is statistically significant for service men and women applicants to the Royal Navy/Royal Marines and Army but not for service men and women applicants to the Royal Air Force or for officer applicants;

(e) there is no significant difference in success rates between black and Asian applicants. The success rate for the small number of applicants from other ethnic minority groups is significantly higher and close to that for whites.

The Department is studying these results and considering, in the light of them, what more can be done to attract young people from the ethnic minorities into the armed services, as we shall need to do over the next few years.